This is the second post in my Intentional Reading series as I tackle pinning down my intentions for the coming year as far as the information I put into my brain.  You might remember that I’ve broken my intentional reading list up into three areas: Mind, Body, and Spirit.  This list focuses solely on books meant to boost my body.

So what requirements do I look for in choosing books to “boost my body” and for that matter, what in the world do I mean by “boost my body?”  By “boost my body”, I simply mean finding ways and working hard to keep my body in good condition.  I’m not getting any younger (trust me, I’ve noticed those wrinkles, too) and when I pay attention to how I’m treating my body, my world just seems better.  My body is meant to be a well-tuned machine so the food I put into it, the output I require of it (exercise), and the nourishment I give to it (herbs, rest, relaxation) all help keep it well-tuned.

So in making my list, I was thinking about those three main areas: food, exercise, and nourishment.  Since food and nourishment help boost my body to help keep it well-tuned, I have also included a few survival books that I like slowly digesting (just in case…’cause disaster can happen anytime and I’d feel rather pathetic if I was like the grasshopper playing all summer plus apparently I am at greater odds for needing survival skills based on my city’s track record with water).  You’ll see some hobby books here, too.  They’re not here by accident.  I feel it’s essential to my overall well-being to have some books that remind me to relax.  Trust me, this old body works much more efficiently when it’s well-balanced.

A final thought…this list was a bit harder to make, mostly because many of these aren’t books I plan to read cover to cover and so it almost feels like cheating to say that I intend to “read” them.  However, after thinking it over, I decided to include them all here as the information in them will be savored and mulled over and will, therefore, be food for thought.  I’ve marked, with an *, the books I don’t plan to read cover to cover, but instead plan to read bits and pieces in no specific order.

Books for my Body:

• Books about Food:
  • *Well Fed Weeknights:  You cannot go wrong with Melissa Joulwan’s recipes!  While she’s totally Paleo (and heavily Whole30), you won’t even notice it…her recipes just rock.  Even my kids all eat her stuff without complaints.
  • *The Wellness Mama Cookbook:  I like The Wellness Mama and I like cookbooks.  I figure it’s a win-win.
  • *Eat Like a Dinosaur:  I’ve heard lots of good things about this one.  And I’m tired of trying to explain for the millionth time why they can’t have crackers for a snack.
  • *The Paleo Kids Cookbook:  If she’s taken into account picky eaters, then this might just become my new go-to
  • Eat Dirt:  Because everybody has gut issues these days, I figured I’d educate myself a bit
  • The Paleo Solution:  Is it possible to eat Paleo and not read this?  I’ve managed to for too long…time to dig into the science a bit more
• Books about Exercise:
  • Do Your Om Thing: Bending Yoga Tradition to Fit Your Modern Life:  The title of this just amuses me.  As does yoga.
  • Namaslay: Rock Your Yoga Practice, Tap into Your Greatness, & Defy Your Limits:  Wow, those are some serious promises…I’ll try it and let you know if I am able to tap into my greatness and defy my limits because that certainly sounds amazing
  • Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body:  I’m not really sure I can have more muscle definition (trust me, these skinny little arms of mine just don’t seem to want to bulk up) but the idea of being stronger and being lean, well, that appeals to me so here I go
  • *Fed and Fit: A 28 Day Food & Fitness Plan to Jump Start Your Life:  A cookbook combined with fitness…ooh, that just sounds fun!
• Books for Nourishment:
  • Adrenal Revolution:  I love Aviva Romm, with her medical expertise and her background in herbs!  After all the reading I’ve done, I keep thinking if I’m going to pick one thing to nourish physically, it should be my adrenals so imagine my delight to see her new book set to be published at the end of this month.
  • *What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Premenopause:  I’m a true believer that natural progesterone supplements can be a huge benefit and this book argues why.
  • *Essential Living:  This one is written by the Aromahead Institute’s instructor.  I figure it’s a good starting place for essential oil ideas
  • The Curious Nature Guide: Explore the Natural Wonders All Around You:  I just love the pictures in this
  • How to be a Wildflower:  Again, I just love the drawings in this…I am inspired and nourished just by breezing through the pages
  • Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever!:  Mostly because I’m just intrigued with the idea that walking barefoot is good for my body
  • The Healing Intelligence of Essential Oils: The Science of Advanced Aromatherapy:  There is so much hype in the media these days about essential oils and while I’m not okay with ingesting them and I’m pretty skeptical about rubbing them on my body, I do love the idea that aromatherapy works.  I get the whole “olfactory nerve being connected to the limbic system in the brain” thing and that intrigues me, so I’m off to read the science behind why smells affect our minds, bodies, and spirits
  • *Aromatherapy:  This one is a treasure trove of how aromatherapy works and some recipes to mix some essential oils
• Survival Skills:
  • Survival Mom:  I love this book!  I am working through it slowly, chapter by chapter.  It’s so practical…it was written by a mom for moms after she realized that most of the survival books out there are geared toward men and usually single men.  I love her research, her candor and her realism.
  • The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide:  I don’t tend to panic in my mind about food.  I don’t necessarily go crazy over imagining life without electricity (although that would be a nuisance!).  But the thought of having no water?  Yeah, that one drives me to my knees.  I figure without a healthy water supply, all of my other survival tactics are in vain, so this is one thing I want to conquer this year.
  • Little House in the Suburbs:  This one has been sitting on my shelf for some time.  I plan to dust it off and go through it little by little.  Will I raise chickens and bees as suggested?  Probably not if Daxson has anything to say about it but still it’s full of lots of good information.
  • Prepper’s Natural Medicine:  This falls into that “gosh, I hope I never need this” kind of knowledge, but I figure I’d rather have exposure to the ideas than face disaster with a blank stare
  • *Idiot’s Guides:  Foraging:  Mark “Merriwether” Vorderbruggen has written an awesome book about foraging.  The pictures are crisp and clear and he’s photographed everything (flower, leaf, root!) you need to help you correctly identify edible plants plus he’s told you how to harvest them, when to find them, how to cook them, and their plant mimics.  This book combined with a few of his half day seminars and I’m in my backyard exclaiming, “Don’t pick that!  It’s more than just a weed!”
  • *Botany in a Day:  Because plant identification overwhelms me unless someone else has confirmed my identification
• Herbal Study Books:  These books get their very own category because my list is so long.  I’m currently enrolled as a student at Sage Mountain and so as I learn about an herb, I use my books to research it further.  It’s slow going but already I’ve learned so many amazing things about the plants I’ve studied.
  • *Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes
  • *The Way of Herbs
  • *The Herbal Apothecary
  • *Holistic Herbal
  • *Healing with the Herbs of Life
  • *The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook
  • *Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine
  • *Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs
  • *The Illustrated Herb Encyclopedia
  • *A Modern Herbal
• Books for Rest and Relaxation:
  • *Attracting Butterflies and Hummingbirds to Your Backyard
  • *Betsy Beads:  I don’t have a clue how to make jewelry but I cannot walk down the bead aisle of a craft shop without drooling…this book allows me to actually shop that aisle
  • *Knit One Bead Too
  • *Canon EOS Rebel T6s:  Because if I’m going to pay lots of money for such a lovely camera, then I’m determined to understand all of it.
  • Wild Days
  • Beyond Snapshots:  I have been trying to work with my beautiful camera a little less often on automatic.  This book promises to help make me a pro of using the manual settings…we’ll see if it proves true.
  • Flower Fairies: The Meaning of Flowers:  So I might have gotten a little obsessed about learning to speak the language of flowers after reading The Language of Flowers a few years ago.  So I’m broadening my language skills a little more this year.

There it is.  My intentional reading list to boost my body.  It looks so intimidating but remember a lot of those books are being read in small chunks or referred to as necessary.  Others will be a slow work of progress (probably over years) as I soak in the information.  I’d love to see what’s on your intentional reading shelf…please come back and, in the comments, share some titles or a link to your list!

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